I wanted so badly to love this book. In fact, I would have been happy if I had just liked this book. Being a huge fan of Meyer’s Lunar Chronicles, I was genuinely excited to read her latest novel dealing with the origins of Lewis Carroll’s character the Queen of Hearts. But unfortunately, by the final chapter, “heartless” adequately described how I felt about the characters, the plot, and the writing.

Beautiful aristocratic Catherine Pinkerton is singled out by the King of Hearts as the woman he wishes to marry, but not only is he undesirable, marriage to him would forever destroy Cath’s dream of opening a bakery with her best friend. One night at a ball, Cath meets the mysterious and dashing court jester, Jest. It is love at first sight, and the pair ultimately must decide whether to escape Wonderland’s constrictions and make their dreams come true in the distant land of Chess, or stay and protect Wonderland from the mythical Jabberwock.

To begin, all the characters were extremely shallow and two-dimensional, lacking any sort of originality or genuine interest. Cath is by far the worst of the lot. She is represented as a tragic character that is prevented by society’s rules from pursuing her dream of opening a bakery. And if she had actually made more than a half-hearted attempt to do that instead of whining about how horrible her life was, I might have drudged up some sense of sympathy for her. Furthermore, Cath seems to posses an outstanding talent of being unable to make any sort of decision and to stick with it. She literally causes every single problem in the book and leaves everyone the worse for knowing her. I couldn’t even support the love story because I could never understand what Jest saw that was attractive about her.

In addition to the poorly written characters, I was further “disheartened” by the utterly predictable plot. In a 464 page book, I accurately called the entire end of the book a third of the way through. The one part of the book I thought was clever (the origins of the mock-turtle) was ruined by the characters’ reactions to the event. Consistently throughout the book, characters remained ignorant of plot points that are painfully obvious to the reader. Instead of giving an air of mystery to the book, it simply made the characters seem hopelessly foolish.

Finally, the writing in Heartless just wasn’t comparable to Meyer’s other novels. The book’s pacing was sporadic—sometimes charging ahead, other times trudging along. The characters were extremely inconsistent and often acted in a manner at odds with their personality simply because the plot needed an action accomplished. Even plot and character development leaned toward nothing-at-all or everything-at-once—especially in the final chapters of the novel when multiple key characters exhibit complete personality transformations without prior intimation.

All in all, I was severely disappointed with this book. It had so much potential, yet fell short on almost every account. It’s far from being the worst book in the world, but it’s not one I will ever read again or recommend.

]]>https://mindwrappedinpages.wordpress.com/2017/04/28/heartless/feed/0Heartless 2mindwrappedinpagesAn Assembly Such As Thishttps://mindwrappedinpages.wordpress.com/2017/04/28/an-assembly-such-as-this/
https://mindwrappedinpages.wordpress.com/2017/04/28/an-assembly-such-as-this/#respondFri, 28 Apr 2017 01:33:20 +0000http://mindwrappedinpages.wordpress.com/?p=362Read more An Assembly Such As This]]>Title: An Assembly Such As This
Author: Pamela Aidan
Rating: 4.5 stars

On the whole, I am uninterested with modern authors who steal classic characters and books for their own publishing use. To me, it seems nothing more than glorified fanfiction that is merely a gimmick to earn money off someone else’s inspiration. Of course, there are exceptions such as P.D. James’s Death Comes to Pemberley and Laurie R. King’s Mary Russell Holmes series (both fantastic sequels to classic books), and I was pleasantly surprised to recently add An Assembly Such As This to this short list of notable retellings.

An Assembly Such As This is the first book in the Fizwilliam Darcy, Gentleman trilogy by Pamela Aidan and is a retelling of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice from Darcy’s point of view. I was extremely skeptical of the high ratings I encountered for this series (after all, how many Pride and Prejudice retellings can the world take?), but I was shocked upon reading to find it well written, engaging, and clever. The characterizations are solid and completely identically to Austen’s creations, and I was delighted to find that Aidan had not merely copied Austen’s work, but rather enhanced it by filling in time gaps and giving solid motivations for characters’ actions in the original novel. I think perhaps my favorite part of the book was finally getting to see Darcy and Bingley’s friendship. More than once, Aidan’s humor had me in stitches with witty comments and situations that were on par with Austen’s.

There really wasn’t much that I disliked about this book. The pacing is a little slow the first half, but once the plot gets rolling, it is much more engaging. The book isn’t action-filled by any means, but it is fairly laid back and lets the plot simply happen at its own leisure. The audience doesn’t need to have read the original book to understand or enjoy the story; however, I wouldn’t recommend it for anyone who doesn’t like the original Pride and Prejudice.

I myself was very impressed with An Assembly Such As This and have already bought the other two books in the trilogy to read. It has enhanced my enjoyment of Austen’s original book and given me a better understanding of society and culture at that time. I highly recommend it and am eager to read more of Aidan’s works.

“Few there are who pause to see the joy that lies behind when black sorrow stands between” (pg 75).

Young David spends his days caring for his infant sister while listening to the village cobbler’s tales of a secret path to the moon, the pleasures that await there, and the mysterious Moon-Angel who guides travelers on their way. One night, David takes the simple cobbler’s advice and makes his way across the moonlight path on the ocean’s water and finds himself a guest of the Man-in-the-Moon. David’s adventures include discovering a magical garden, rescuing a lost princess, battling an iron giant, and finding a lost treasure that holds the secret of joy for mankind.

I did not initially realize that this book was written following the death of Howard Pyle’s son (though the dedication page should have been a clue). The book takes a significant step away from Pyle’s more notable adventures such as The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, Men of Iron, and King Arthur and His Knights and muses over the fate of children who have died. This haunting fairy tale beautifully blends various biblical stories and cultural archetypes together to create a new story that gives hope of a life beyond death. Added to this story are Pyle’s stunning illustrations throughout the book that enhances its fairy tale ambiance and reminds the reader very much of Tolkien’s Roverandom.

However, fairy tale though this may be, it is anything but a light, diversionary read. It very much features the dark, overarching theme of death and the metaphorical afterlife of souls beyond the grave. There are a few shocking elements within the story that very young children might find disturbing (such as a brief scene of infanticide) as well as a discovery that the Moon-Angel is in fact the Angel of Death.

My personal tastes would generally prevent me from reading such a morose story as Garden Behind the Moon, but largely I am glad that I stumbled across this book. It is depressing and slightly bizarre, but there are many pockets of wisdom and beauty found within the story that caught me by surprise. And while I can’t say that I enjoyed such a strange fairy tale, I can at least appreciate the message of hope that it brings.

As a prior warning to readers who have seen BBC’s Monarch of the Glen television show, this book is very different from what they might expect (though it is quite easy to spot elements that inspired the screen writers). The story takes place sometime following the first World War as American millionaire Chester Royde; his wife, Carrie; and sister, Myrtle, travel to Scotland and visit their (very) distant relative Ben Nevis, Laird of Glenbogle. Unfortunately for Myrtle, they discover that Ben Nevis is broke and views Myrtle as a potential wife for one of his burly sons. Furthermore, they don’t count on their relative being a fiery and feisty Scotsman; proud of his clan, defensive of his land, and idealistic of his traditions. When a group of hikers trespass onto Ben Nevis’s land and spoil a hunt, it becomes an uproarious war between the groups of Scotsmen over traditional values.

I laughed all the way through this book—it is an utterly hysterical farce. There were many times that I both read out loud and texted segments to my friends and family. Especially as an American who has visited Scotland twice, I identified with many of the antics Carrie, Chester, and Myrtle pulled as they attempted to connect with their ancient Scottish roots and convince the natives that they too were Celtic at heart. In addition to being highly entertained, I gleaned a great deal about Scottish culture, heritage, and folklore that I hadn’t fully understood previously. By the end of the book, I gained a new appreciation for a society that is often romanticized, but rarely seen in truly comedic form.

The story begins rather slowly, but after the first few chapters it takes off at a rousing pace until the end. The characters aren’t deep, but they fit the story well and compliment the humorous situations they find themselves in. The character of Ben Nevis is truly a delight and made me laugh more times than I can count. I would very readily suggest this book to anyone (I already have several friends that plan on borrowing it at the first opportunity), and look forward myself to finding more of Compton Mackenzie’s novels to devour.

In her introduction, M.M. Kaye explains that her inspiration for The Ordinary Princess came as she sat reading Andrew Lang’s fairy books and noticed that (bar a few exceptions) every single princess was a blond, blue-eyed beauty. Kaye stated, “This struck me as most unfair, and suddenly I began to wonder just how many handsome young princes would have asked a king for the hand of his daughter if that daughter had happened to be gawky, snub-nosed, and freckled, with shortish mouse-colored hair? None, I suspected” (XII). The result of this realization produced a wonderfully hilarious tale that is as enchanting as it is insightful.

On the day of her christening the Princess Amethyst Alexandra Augusta Araminta Adelaide Aurelia Anne (fortunately known as Amy) is overwhelmed with gifts of every marvelous sort; that is, until a powerful fairy “curses” her with normality. Despite the desperate efforts of her mother, Amy finds herself without any distinguishable beauty, talent, or prestige. Being a bitter disappointment to everyone around her, Amy flees and discovers that her identity isn’t found in the eyes of others, but rather in the way she perceives herself, and the joy she finds in an “ordinary” life.

The greatest aspect of this story is that the protagonist isn’t the classic damsel-in-distress archetypal character. In fact, it boasts quite the opposite with Amy being entirely comfortable in her own skin, but without the hard and moody independence that most female characters exhibit. Amy is kind, charming, and lovable while displaying her own individuality; in short, she is an excellent role model for young girls. Also, a nice change of pace is that there is no physical villain in this story; the only crime is found in the stereotypical expectations displayed by various characters in the book.

Utterly hilarious, heartwarming, and witty, this book has quickly earned a spot as one of my favorite children’s books. I laughed out loud countless times at Kaye’s humor and admired the stunning illustrations scattered throughout the story (drawn by Kaye herself). In my opinion, The Ordinary Princess can be enjoyed by all ages, and is a book that every young girl should read, own, and treasure as she grows up.

]]>https://mindwrappedinpages.wordpress.com/2016/07/25/the-ordinary-princess/feed/0The Ordinary PrincessmindwrappedinpagesThe Stillness of the Skyhttps://mindwrappedinpages.wordpress.com/2016/07/25/the-stillness-of-the-sky/
https://mindwrappedinpages.wordpress.com/2016/07/25/the-stillness-of-the-sky/#respondMon, 25 Jul 2016 04:36:56 +0000http://mindwrappedinpages.wordpress.com/?p=311Read more The Stillness of the Sky]]>Title: The Stillness of the Sky
Author: Starla Huchton
Rating: 3 stars

The Stillness of the Sky is the second of Starla Huchton’s Flipped Fairy Tale series (preceded by Shadows on Snow), though it can easily be read as a stand-alone novel. Although it is a retelling of Jack (though this time Jacqueline) and the Beanstalk, it is far from the traditional narrative and adds in a fresh perspective to the tale.

After a rather sluggish beginning, the plot moves at a steady pace that drew me in and left me constantly guessing what would happen next. The story of Jack and the Beanstalk has never been a personal favorite of mine, and I was very pleasantly surprised to find myself thoroughly enjoying Huchton’s retelling of the story. It is original and clever with magic, villains, and romance woven throughout. The variety of characters (including an appearance of the Pied Piper) adds unexpected twists and illustrates how each individual is responsible for his/her own reaction to circumstances. Additionally, Huchton uses her story to exemplify how even the smallest act of kindness can alter the course of events.

Although the plot continually marches forward, it never quite fully peaks to the expected climax at the end. The story is fully resolved, but fizzles out more than it enthralls and excites. That being said, it is not a bad ending. Far from it. But I was left wanting much more of a conclusion than I received from either plot or characters, and was left with several questions unanswered.

I was also slightly disappointed by the flatness of several of the characters. It wasn’t that they lacked depth, but their personalities were never fully flushed out; the reader glimpsed certain aspects of each character, but vast portions of their personalities were very much a haze. For example, Jack’s gentle heart and desire to help others was shown to great extent, but only rarely was I ever given a glance of any other side of her nature. What were her faults and vices? Her likes and dislikes? I loved her character, but could never quite connect with her. Furthermore, there were a few instances when I personally felt that her acts of kindness were taken too far, such as grudgingly allowing a man to kiss her simply because she believed it to be kind and didn’t wish to fail him.

Overall, I enjoyed this book very much. I wouldn’t particularly say that it was fantastic or my favorite fairy tale retelling by far, but I am certainly interested in reading more of Huchton’s books in the near future. If her other plots bring the same unique elements to classic fairy tales that Stillness of the Sky did, then I would consider them very worthwhile reads.

]]>https://mindwrappedinpages.wordpress.com/2016/07/25/the-stillness-of-the-sky/feed/0Stillness of the SkymindwrappedinpagesA Stranger To Commandhttps://mindwrappedinpages.wordpress.com/2016/06/28/a-stranger-to-command/
https://mindwrappedinpages.wordpress.com/2016/06/28/a-stranger-to-command/#respondTue, 28 Jun 2016 01:57:13 +0000http://mindwrappedinpages.wordpress.com/?p=303Read more A Stranger To Command]]>Title: A Stranger to Command: A Prequel to Crown Duel
Author: Sherwood Smith
Rating: 3.5 stars

For anyone who loves Sherwood Smith’s Crown Duel, A Stranger to Command is an excellent prequel that gives a satisfying background to many favorite characters from the original book. As always, Smith’s grasp of world building is superb. She flawlessly creates civilizations and cultures with depth and imagination while embedding characters that reflect and compliment the society around them. The story follows the teenage years of Vidanric Renselaeus, Marquis of Shevraeth as he journeys to a foreign land to escape the precarious politics of his home court, while at the same time learning the rules and structures of both royal and military command. The book is a good mix of humor and excitement, and often I found myself laughing out loud (not to mention the several nights where I stayed up far too late reading).

While I did enjoy this book very much, I encountered a few issues that significantly lowered my opinion and the book’s enjoyability. This book is marketed as “a prequel to Crown Duel” (and it is a fantastic prequel in many ways)—what isn’t understood is that it’s also practically a sequel to several of Smith’s other books/series. There were several moments when major plot points from previous books were alluded too, but never fully explained to the reader (which was especially a problem since these plot points affected the major plot line of A Stranger to Command). A few times I was so distracted attempting to figure out exactly what had happened in these other books that I forgot to pay attention to what was happening in the book in front of me. Furthermore, I never had a clear idea who the villain was supposed to be, nor what exactly he had done in the past to make him so terrible—this was also made difficult in that no villain actually made an appearance in the book. Again, several villains from prior books were discussed, but their actions and crimes were always fairly ambiguous (although if I had known to read these other books first I would have been far more enlightened I suppose).

Another issue (though no fault of Smith’s) was that the printing of this book was poor. After excitedly curling up with A Stranger to Command, I spent the first several minutes staring at the book in utter confusion until I realized that the first twenty pages were actually the last five pages of another book entitled Beneath the Beardmore, followed by several pages of its “Notes On Contributors,” and ending with a strange two-page illustration of what seems to be a maze with a giant vine. I will grant that after the twenty pages of Beneath the Beardmore, a very nice, complete printing of A Stranger to Command appeared, so (thankfully) the printing issue didn’t affect the actual book I was reading.

But after an enjoyable story that looked to shape up to an exciting ending, the main story was completely dropped denying the reader the expected climax. Vidandric is magically whisked away to his native land (literally) and spends the last several chapters finding his way home. The last chapter felt very rushed and left me with more questions than answers, although in many ways it did set up well for Crown Duel to follow.

I really did enjoy A Stranger to Command very much, but it fell far short of my hopes for a book as wonderful as Crown Duel. It is exciting, humorous, and entertaining and is a book I would eventually read again (despite it’s disappointing flaws). I loved becoming more acquainted with Smith’s original characters and am excited that it will make my next reading of Crown Duel much more insightful and enjoyable.

The novel This Rough Magic revolves around English actress, Lucy Waring, who is invited by her sister to join her on the Greek island of Corfu. But after Lucy arrives, unexplained murders and suspicious incidents begin to plague the island forcing her to wonder who is involved: the cloisted actor Sir Julian Gale, his son Mark, famous photographer Godfrey Manning, or any number of the island’s inhabitants.

As always, Mary Stewart’s mastery of description is the highlight of any book she writes. Her striking descriptions of characters and landscapes instantly create a mood for her books that transports the reader into a different world and culture. In addition, this book weaves Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” throughout the novel to compliment both the setting and the plot. When I finished reading, I immediately wanted to dig out my paperback and reread the play.

While I did somewhat enjoy this book, I must say that this is my least favorite Mary Stewart novel that I have read thus far. (An unpopular opinion, I realize, as it seems to be one of readers’ favorites according to ratings and reviews) The pacing of the plot was very uneven with long periods of exposition containing little action followed by brief scenes of major plot development. The romance, especially, was frustratingly unbelievable and should have either been expanded or removed all together. The two love interests had very few scenes together, and after only a few days of knowing each other, become engaged. I was left at the end of the book feeling very cheated and dissatisfied with the way both the plot and romance were tied up quickly at the very end of the story. Furthermore, no character development at all was seen in any of the characters.

All in all, I wouldn’t particularly recommend this book to anyone but an avid Stewart enthusiast — I would much more likely recommend Moonspinners (an enjoyable read) for those interested in exploring her suspense novels. This Rough Magic had many good and interesting aspects, but for me, they just didn’t quite make up for the defects in the plot and development of characters.

I first heard of the Poldark series after watching BBC’s Poldark starring Aiden Turner (an utterly fantastic TV show by the way). Curious, I picked up the first novel and discovered that it exceeded every expectation I had. It is the story of Ross Poldark—a wounded British officer returning home after three years of fighting in the American Revolutionary War. But all his hopes are crushed when he discovers that his father is dead and the girl of his dreams is engaged to his cousin. Grieving and angry, Ross turns his attention to his own derelict estate and the declining mining economy of Cornwall as he acquires a new resolve to help the suffering farmers and miners around him.

Winston Graham’s descriptions of the Cornish landscape and inhabitants were so gripping that I was immediately captivated by the story. I very much felt that I understood his characters and the motivations behind their actions based on Graham’s portrayal of their way of life. Characters have a breath of realism, as they are neither entirely good—nor entirely depraved —and each one struggles with his or her inner conscience daily. It was refreshing to step away from the stock characters so often seen in books today.

While the plot keeps a steady pace, it does take its time to develop and shape the story. This book isn’t for readers who instantly desire action or romance; rather, it is for readers who appreciate immersion into a way of life and a story that naturally evolves around its characters. Furthermore, the story can become depressing at times as certain character’s lives take blow after blow from the harsh society around them. But watching as they stumble back and doggedly fight on is both inspiring and heartening.

Ross Poldark was a wonderful read, if at times a bit slow, and I would readily recommend it as a fantastic historical novel. And as an added bonus, its content is fairly clean and unlikely to offend most readers (how often do you get to say THAT anymore?). And while readers aren’t supposed to judge a book by its cover, can I please just mention that the cover art is BEAUTIFUL? Well done, Pan Books. Well done.

Passenger follows two main characters: Etta Spencer and Nicholas Carter. Etta is a violin prodigy who discovers that she has the ability to travel through time and finds herself smack dab in the middle of an age-old feud that spans between her relations family and several other prominent time-traveling families. Not only have these time travelers kidnapped her and taken her miles from her home, they have also taken her several decades back in time. The second main character is Nicholas, a sailor who is content with the life he’s chosen for himself—and away from his family. Suddenly, when Etta winds up on his ship, Nicholas finds his fate intertwined with Etta’s.

The Ironwoods (the time traveling family in charge of all time travelers) believe that Etta is only person who can find an object of great value to their family, and they blackmail her into trying to locate it for them. Nicholas has been tasked with making sure Etta finds and returns with the object, so he must follow her as she journeys through time using clues left to her by a traveler who wants the object destroyed (and out of the Ironwoods’ hands).

Not only do Etta and Nicholas have to figure out where the object is, but also when. In a giant scavenger hunt through time, the two follows clues that lead toward this object. However, Etta and Nicholas aren’t the only two looking for it. Will they reach the object first? What will Etta decide to do if she does get there first?

The concept of this book is incredibly fascinating to me, and I was really excited to pick it up. It takes a little bit to get going, but once the plot takes off, Passenger is really hard to put down. Nicholas is half African American and from the early American colonies, a time when most African Americans were slaves, and Etta is from present time. Bracken handles the difference in racial prejudice throughout time really well, as Nicholas is always aware of his skin color, but Etta hardly thinks about it. It reminds me very much of Scout Finch’s “colorblindness” in Harper Lee’s Go Set a Watchmen. (Which also just goes to show that it’s easier not to notice race for those who aren’t discriminated against.)

I can also tell that this novel was heavily researched, and each time period is rich in details. Passenger ends on a cliffhanger with the life of one of the main characters on the line—the sequel can’t get here fast enough!